WHATMAN INTERNATIONAL LIMITED Vs. P MEHTA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Plaintiff Whatman International Limited, a company incorporated under the laws of U.K. has filed the present suit for permanent injunction restraining infringement of trademark, copyright, trade-dress, passing off, unfair competition, dilution, etc.

(2.) The Plaintiff company, which was founded by James Whatman in 1740, is the owner of the mark WHATMAN. The Plaintiff was acquired in February, 2008 by GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company. The Plaintiff is involved in the manufacture and sale of various products including filter paper. The mark WHATMAN is registered in India in classes 1, 9 & 16. Though the name Whatman is a surname, it is claimed that the Plaintiff's mark, owing to user for more than 250 years, has acquired a secondary meaning in the trade. The Plaintiff uses a distinctive colour combination and script, get-up and layout for its Whatman filter paper, consisting of a white background with a blue script, which is set out herein below:

(3.) The present suit has been filed by the Plaintiff against various Defendants. The exact connection between the various Defendants would be discussed herein below.